Police can now investigate teachers for being late. That may change.

The Broward County School District is overhauling employee discipline after complaints.

School police officers could no longer investigate teachers for being late to class or rude to their bosses, under a proposed overhaul of the Broward County school district’s discipline policies.

Employees had complained they were being subjected to long police investigations for minor matters and weren’t kept informed of what was happening in their cases. Under the proposed policy revisions discussed at Tuesday’s meeting:

Advertisement

-- The district’s police would handle only serious misconduct cases, not work performance issues.

-- Employees will be told why they’re being investigated and how long the investigation is expected to take.

-- The district’s police chief can turn down requests for investigations.

District officials say many of these changes have already taken effect, even though the policy hasn’t officially changed. Last year, school investigators looked at 39 percent of the cases referred to it, down from 61 percent during the 2013-14 school year.

In recent years, employees have complained that sworn police officers are being used to investigate matters such as a teacher being late to work, failing to turn in paperwork or using a disrespectful tone.

“Sometimes when a manager doesn’t want to deal with an issue, they they refer it” to the district police, said Jim Silvernale, who represents the Federation of Public Employees union.

District officials say investigators have been wrapping up cases in a more timely manner. Just 22 percent of investigations lasted beyond 60 days last school year, down from 46 percent during 2013-14, according to district data.

Under the new policy, work performance issues will be handled mostly through evaluations. Teachers can still be subject to discipline, but it will be handled through school administration and the district’s Employee Relations department, not school police.

District officials hope to receive final School Board approval for the new policy by this summer so it can officially take effect when the new school year starts in August.